Expressing anguish and dissent over the life imprisonment of rights activist Binayak Sen, city-based medical practitioners, professors and students Tuesday held a protest here and started a signature campaign demanding his release.
Over 250 doctors and students who assembled under the banner ‘Doctors in Solidarity: Free Binayak Sen Campaign’ joined the protest.
‘Binayak Sen was a true patriot and he has been falsely charged in a sedition case by the state. We demand his immediate and unconditional release,’ said doctor Abhijit Chowdhury, a protest organiser.
‘We have also held a signature campaign. We will write letters to President Pratibha Patil and Prime Minister Manmohan Singh urging them for Sen’s immediate release. The photocopies of the signatures will be attached with the letters,’ he said.
The protesters said they will continue agitating till Sen is released.
Sen, 59, was Dec 24, 2010 sentenced to life imprisonment by a Chhattisgarh court for sedition and his links with the Maoists. The conviction triggered angry reactions from within and outside the country.